Afghan women get wings to fly as Taliban fear lurks

C Shivakumar @ CHENNAI: 

Second Lieutinant Hassiana Najibi, the trainee pilot of Afghan Air Force, is confident of making a mark in her flying career. Taking a cue from Hollywood films, she chose her career in Afghan Air Force.

With her hair covered and sporting the Afghan uniform at Officers Training Academy, one of India’s only premier institute’s that trains women officers, Najibi has the confidence of conquering the male bastion with the words ‘I Can.”

Interestingly, she is not the lone Afghan trainee pilot who is trained on war tactics and leadership in OTA. She is accompanied by Zuhra Nabizadi and Nassema, who is a flight engineer. They are among the batch of 19 Afghan women who are being trained in combat, leadership and other aspects.

Although the influence of Taliban in the Afghan society could be felt as both women don’t want to reveal more details about the family. “It is a totally well knit society and women have to adhere to the tenets of Islam as such they don’t want to reveal any more details,” says Captain Sirajulhaq Safi. However, women like Zuhra and Hassiana have overcome the fear of not joining the military despite facing restrictions which pertain to religion and culture.

However, the Afghan women envy the freedom given to Indian army officer. “They have more facilities and freedom,” says Zuhra when queried about how they feel about Indian women in armed forces.

Interestingly, the trainee pilots take pride that they are among the five selected for being a pilot in the Indian Airforce among the 3,000 girls, who wrote the exam.

However, the women have faith that the society is also changing as women are being given opportunities.

Major Thejassmitha from Indian Army, who is coordinating with the Afghan army personnel, said that the training schedule has been altered based on request from Afghan National Army. “Now the training programme has been extended by a week more and there have been two interpreters who are specialized in two dialects of Afghans,” she says.

“This year apart from the IAF officers, we have women from Infantry, Logistics and Special Forces who are being trained in OTA,” said Thejassmitha.

Interestingly, Officers Training Academy has become the hub for training women and men officers from various countries. This year lady cadets from Bhutan, Uganda, Syechelles, Maldives and other countries are undergoing training in the acdemy. It is learnt that more batches from Afghan national Army is expected in Officers Training Academy